The present invention relates to animated toy figurines, more particularly, to articulated toy figurines in which a simulated appendage is moved to simulate some common human act. Animated toy figurines of the type in which an arm or other appendage are moved by means of a reciprocative plunger actuating means or other mechanism in order to perform some common act are now generally known. More particularly, animated toys of the type containing a plunger-operated mechanism extending from the figurine's base or pedestal whereby a portion of the figurine may be held in hand and bounced or hopped along a surface to effect the plunger reciprocation have been manufactured by the assignee of the present invention, Mattel, Inc., Hawthorne, California. Moreover, the Mattel prior art figurine referred to may be mounted on a base in which the plunger associated with the figurine is received within an opening to engage an eccentric and a hand-operated crank and eccentric combination in which rotation of the eccentric reciprocates the engaged plunger. This permits animation of the figurine by remote operation of the hand crank as an alternative.
The present invention is directly related to the aforedescribed types of toy figurines, and, more particularly, a toy of the aforedescribed type capable of simulating the act of sweeping. It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a toy figurine carrying a simulated broom which can be animated manually by holding a head portion and hopping same along a surface or, alternatively, animated remotely through operation of a hand crank to permit the toy figurine to simulate a sweeping action. A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and inexpensive structure for accomplishing the conversion of a reciprocative motion to a rotary motion, particularly for the purpose of rotating the torso portion of a toy figurine which carries a broom and simulates the act of sweeping.